Green builders manage the whole house, says Christopher Anderson, vice president of purchasing and product development at Segal and Morel, which is building an energy-efficient housing development in Forks Township. For instance, a first step in green building is to make homes air-tight and insulated — energy efficient. But because of that, the air inside can become toxic. That calls for a second step.

"We put a heat recovery ventilator in every house," Anderson says. "It brings in fresh air and takes out stale air."

But the commitment to green extends beyond the building site, too, and embraces the local economy.

Green builders buy local

One such builder is Ruhmel Contracting Inc. of Breinigsville: Designer Robin Ruhmel says the company uses cherry wood for cabinetry because it is grown and milled locally.

And they are sensitive to sustainability, which includes also means looking ahead, because a design that will hold up over the years saves the waste of renovations.

For instance, says Ruhmel, who also is owner of The Design Studio at HoudenHAL in Breinigsville, some people are choosing to build double master bedroom suites, one upstairs and one downstairs. Homeowners can start out sleeping in the downstairs suite, but if elderly relatives need to move in, the younger couple can give the older family members that space and move upstairs.

When looking to incorporate green building into your home, focus on what makes sense for your own situation to help weed out products.

Energy efficiency

Energy efficiency is the biggest part of green building, says Brian Baker, co-owner and director of marketing and design for studio26 homes of Orefield. In part, because it's easy to measure savings in the form of lower electric and gas bills.

In the march to energy efficiency, builders have done a good job of insulating and air-sealing homes.

"But we're leaving windows behind," Baker says. Walls and windows are rated with an "R" value — a measure of thermal resistance of how well heat or cold is held within the building envelope; a higher number is more efficient.

Walls can have an R value of up to 33 or higher. By contrast, "most windows have an R value of 3 or 4," Baker says. But new windows are coming on the market that have triple-pane glazing; that is, a single window made up of three panes bonded together but separated by a layer of inert gas. The windows have an R value of 10 to 12.

Indoors, those windows can have a high-tech window treatment, such as the Hunter Douglas Platinum Technology, according to Ruhmel. These are blinds that sense when the sun is beating in and automatically open or close as appropriate.

Light-emitting diode (LED) lights are another energy efficient product, and as this product's design matures, it is getting better. Early LEDs had a blue tint that people didn't like, but new designs cast a warm, white light, Baker says.

He says incandescent bulbs have an average life of 3,000 hours; energy efficient fluorescent bulbs will shine for, maybe, 10,000 hours; and LEDS can provide light for 50,000 to 100,000 hours, and do it with less wattage, saving energy. Additionally, they do not contain the toxic mercury of fluorescents.

Conserving water

Conserving water is another way to go green.

Segal & Morel officials like the new, low-flow showerheads that dispense water at a rate of 2 gallons per minute. That's down from 7 to 10 gallons a minute in older showers, and an average of 2.5 to 3.5 gallons per minute, Anderson says.

Shower water has a new way to go down the drain. Ruhmel is excited about new linear-slot drain systems that can be placed at the back of a shower, so its floor doesn't have to slope four ways to a middle drain.

Aesthetically, this means contractors can use larger tiles on a shower floor. For sustainability, a slope to the back of a shower means it can be designed without a curb, so people who can't lift their feet or who use wheelchairs can easily get in and out. That means people can age in place without having to move to a more accessible home or can take in an ailing, elderly relative.

Outside, new ways of handling the runoff from the roof are being used by Segal & Morel: 55-gallon rain barrels to which long soaker hoses are attached, so homeowners can water their gardens with recycled water.

"Rainwater is slightly acidic, so it's good for plants and grass," Anderson says.

Outdoor living

Ruhmel Contracting is using new eco-responsible materials on back yard decks.

First is Thermory, wood (northern American ash) that has been cured with steam and heat up to 400 degrees. "It's like petrified wood," Ruhmel says.

Second is Troba, a drainage system that is installed under the deck. That means the builder can use tiles on the deck because it catches any water penetrating the tile covering and the mortar bed. That, in turn, means that space under the deck can be used for extra living or storage space. Finally, Ruhmel likes tempered glass panels for the deck railings. Often made with tinted glass so birds don't bang into them, these tempered glass railings let deck-sitters enjoy the view without the heavy horizontal lines of wood rails. And, Ruhmel says, "Glass has longevity."

"There are a lot of great ideas," Segal says. So many that builders sometimes find themselves working through them by trial and error. Some green ideas have not caught on.

One green-building idea that used to be hot but now is not, says Baker, is the use of structural materials called insulating concrete forms (ICF) and structural insulated panels (SIP). These married hard polystyrene foam with concrete to make thick house walls that were soundproof and kept the cold of winter and heat of summer from creeping inside.

Another is tankless water heaters, according to Ruhmel. These use hot burners or coils to quickly heat water close to the faucet, so a constantly-on, basement water heater isn't needed. But it turns out people have so many bathrooms and sinks that too many tankless heaters would be needed to be affordable.

Pulling all of this together is the computer age, Segal says. Design and build programs let builders determine what size lumber is optimal, which heating and cooling unit is the perfect match, and what the diameter of each plumbing pipe should be.

"We love thinking though the process when we're designing for people," Ruhmel says. Clients can find it hard to grasp all the details.

"It can be overwhelming," she says," But makes living so much better."

Promoting green building

Three programs that focus on ecologically responsible building practices are:

• Energy Star is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program that helps businesses and individuals save money and protect the climate through superior energy efficiency. It is a voluntary program to identify and promote energy-efficient products and buildings to reduce energy consumption, improve energy security and reduce pollution through voluntary labeling of products and buildings that meet the highest energy efficiency standards.

• National Green Building Standards is a collaborative effort between the National Association of Home Builders and the International Code Council that defines green practices that can be incorporated into new homes, home remodeling and the sites homes are built on. It promotes resource, energy and water efficiency; indoor environmental quality; and operation, maintenance and building-owner education.

• LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, is a green building certification program that recognizes best-in-class building strategies and practices. To receive LEED certification, building projects satisfy prerequisites and earn points to achieve different levels of certification. It is sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council, which is made up of tens of thousands of member organizations, chapters and student and community volunteers.